Happy Birthday Emma Swan
by loboselina
Summary: It's Emma's birthday and nobody seems to know but Henry, and Emma wants to keep it that way, Henry agrees on one condtion; they do whatever he wants on that day. A short fic in honour of it being Emma's brithday. (Daddy Charming, Mama Snow, Swan Believer - Charming Family)


**I realised that today is Emma's birthday so I thought I'd write a quick fic for it. (Then I accidentally stayed up 'til 7:15am writing it... whoops)  
** **Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"Emma! Wake up!"

Emma woke to hear her father's voice calling up to her from downstairs, it was their weekend off from working at the station, and Emma would normally have woken up later… _much_ later, but she was being blackmailed by her son so she was forced to suffer with waking up early. That day also happened to be her birthday. Which was exactly what Henry was blackmailing her over. Emma didn't want her parents to know, she had missed her twenty-ninth in the Enchanted Forest with her mother, and her thirtieth by being in New York with Henry, plus she doubted her parents knew it was that day after all the Enchanted Forest had a completely different calendar. She didn't want them to know as she didn't want to bring back any bad memories, after all she doubted the day would be filled with happiness for them if they knew, plus she was turning thirty-one; it wasn't like she needed a bouncy castle and a game of pass-the-parcel. Henry had agreed to not tell them, but only on the condition that they could spend the day doing whatever he wanted, Emma was happy enough with that, after all she loved spending time with him… well, until he told her the time they'd be leaving.

She dragged herself out of bed, before David could shout her again, and quickly got ready for the day.

When she made it down the stairs all of her family was there, Mary Margret was holding onto Neal as she read the newspaper, a cup of tea in front of her, and Henry (who had been spending his weekend at Regina's) was talking to David in the kitchen about something. Emma smiled at the sight of the massive plate of pancakes, of varying sorts, which David was plating up.

"Good morning Emma." Mary Margret smiled.

"Hey mom." Emma smiled back, she sat down in the place beside her mother at the head of the table, where her cup of coffee was already set. "Hey squirt." She said to Neal, who twisted his head in his mother's arms to look at his sister, he smiled and gently cooed at her. Emma smiled even more, Neal was only a couple of months old, but Emma was completely besotted by him; though she often teased her parents that he's grow to be a troublemaker.

"Morning, Em" David greeted softly as he plated the food in the centre of the table, before he took his place beside Emma at the table, Henry sat on his other side and was already helping himself to some pancakes and some bacon which was already at the table.

"Morning dad, what's the occasion?" she tried not to wince at her own words, she didn't want her parents to even wonder for a millisecond that there was any importance to the date at all, she also couldn't help for dread that Henry had in fact let slip Emma's secret.

"No reason," He shrugged as he watched Emma plate her own food, before he made up a plate for his wife and lastly himself, "your mother and I are planning on having a relaxing day today, so I thought I'd make a nice breakfast for us all."

Emma nodded as she bit into the heavenly pancakes. "So, you guys not going to be up to much?"

"Well, we're only going to have our youngest child at home today, the one who takes lots of naps… So I guess we have the place to ourselves." He smirked hoping that Emma was catch the double meaning in his words.

"Are you seriously trying to put me off my pancakes?" Emma groaned, she spared a quick glanced at Henry who suddenly seemed really interested in his own food, obviously he was starting to understand his grandfather's meaning and was just as embarrassed as Emma.

"David!" Mary Margret scolded. "We're not doing… we're going to just be relaxing, catching up with some house work, we might even watch a movie while your brother sleeps."

David nodded at his wife as she continued to glare at him.

"Wow guys go wild." Emma joked quietly.

"What are you two planning on doing?" Mary Margret asked her daughter and grandson.

"I'm not sure," Emma turned to stare at Henry, "wanna answer your grandma, kid?"

Henry smirked and shook his head. "Nope it's a surprise." He told her before answering his grandmother. "Mom said we could do whatever I wanted."

"I lost a bet!" Emma quickly, but unsubtly, added. "Which means it'll probably just be playing arcade games and eating way too much ice cream."

"You say that as though you're not just as into arcade games and don't have just as big of a sweet tooth." David laughed.

Emma couldn't think of a response, so just stuck her tongue out at her father, who laughed even more at the childish gesture.

The family continued to eat keeping up the pleasant small talk until they were finished and Henry was dragging his mother out of the loft.

"We'll be back soon." Emma called as she headed out of the door.

Henry suddenly stopped. "I forgot my scarf." He turned to run back to the loft.

Emma rolled her eyes and started to walk down the stairs. "Okay, I'll meet you outside of the building."

Mary Margret and David looked up as Henry rushed into the room.

"What time do you want me to get her to Granny's for?" He smiled.

"Half six please." Mary Margret told him.

"Awesome, operation Jellyfish is go." He said enthusiastically.

"Jellyfish?" David scrunched his eyebrows up.

"They live for a long time so they have loads of birthday." Henry explained as though it was obvious before he darted back out of the loft and down the stairs.

"Okay, where to kid?" Emma asked as she started to head towards her bug.

"Nope, we're walking." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to his mother.

"A treasure map?" Emma raised her eyebrow as she looked down at it then back at her son, who shrugged with a careless smile. "Okay, looks like first spot is Granny's."

Henry gestured for her to lead the way.

*OUAT*

"Is this a day where you're going to blackmail me to buying you loads of cake?" Emma asked with joking suspicion as they sat in the booth.

"Maybe." Henry smiled back at her. "No, we're getting hot chocolate, my treat."

Emma smiled at how chivalrous he had grown to be… and well… how much he had grown in the time she had known him. "So, is there something really important about all these places?" she looked down at all the hand drawn map which it's five numbered crosses.

"They're important places from the time you first came to Storybrooke, I thought it'd be fun."

Emma could sense his slight nervousness at his idea. "I wouldn't want to spend my birthday any other way." She assured him. She smiled a thanks at Ruby as she set a hot chocolate with cinnamon down in front of her.

"Henry, you left your backpack the last time you were here." Ruby told him as she set another hot chocolate down in front of him, then she passed him the bag with a knowing smile (which Emma missed) before leaving the pair to themselves.

"This is the place where we first shared hot chocolate." Henry informed her.

Emma cast her mind back to the time, before all the craziness of her life had become normal, to a time shortly after her twenty-eighth birthday. "That was the first time I walked you to school." Emma remembered fondly.

"Exactly." Henry reached into his backpack and pulled out a squared package wrapped in brown paper. "I thought you wouldn't want birthday paper where everyone can see." He told her as he handed it over.

"You didn't have to get me a present." She told him as she started to peel away the paper, but his raised eyebrow was enough of an answer for her. Once she opened the cardboard box which was under the paper, she realised that it was a large yellow mug, with a white silhouette of a car like her own.

"I thought it would be good for hot chocolate." Henry said proudly. "Oh, you'll need this too." He told her as he passed her over his backpack. "That's not your only present today." He informed her with a cheeky smile she couldn't even begin to argue with.

*OUAT*

"Okay, you got me stumped with this one," Emma looked around the empty Toll Bridge and pulled her leather jacket closer around her as the October weather was getting colder, "why are we here?"

"This is the first place we were all together; you, me, grandma, and gramps." Henry told her as they walked along the water's edge. He started to walk over to the tree line where he had hid Emma's present earlier.

Emma stood frozen. She had almost forgotten that this was the first place they were all together, when her father had woken from his coma and run away from the hospital, they had found him almost dead. She remembered the absolute fear she felt, as she tried to keep Henry from looking at David's body while Mary Margret was giving David CPR, she didn't understand why she felt so completely petrified at finding him like that; now of course she realised it must have been because she felt the connection between the two of them. She suddenly became aware that Henry was back at her side. She was handed another present by her son. Emma sank to the floor and sat with her legs crossed, as she tore open the paper, inside the paper were a few more thinner presents; she opened them all to find an array of movies: Star Wars, The Godfather, a couple of newer superhero movies, and obviously some Disney movies- films which were her family's favourites, many of which they either had never owned or they had lost them in between the craziness of their life.  
"Family movies." Emma smiled at him, she had tears in her eyes, as she realised how many times they could have left each other.

Henry simply nodded and took hold of his mother's hand.

*OUAT*

Once Emma and Henry had left the loft Mary Margret and David set about getting ready for their day. They wrapped the presents that they hadn't finished wrapping yet. They were rather surprised that Emma genuinely didn't realise that they knew that it was her birthday; but of course they knew after all they are her parents. This was the first time that they would all be together for Emma's birthday since her actual birth. And of course it was slightly bittersweet, they should have been able to celebrate all of them together, but they were together _now_ and that was all that mattered.

"She'll think we've gone overboard, you know?" David asked his wife and he hanged the banner which exclaimed 'Happy Birthday Emma!' to the rest of the loft.

Mary Margret finished filling a red balloon with helium, she tied a streamer to it as she spoke. "I know, but I just want to make this one special for her…. You don't think it's too much, do you?" she asked him slightly nervously as she let the balloon float up until it stopped when the string was pulled tight.

David walked over to Mary Margret. "I think it's perfect." He pulled her into a kiss. "Emma might be unused to it, but she deserves this, and I think she'll love it."

Mary Margret let out a content sigh. She looked at the big pile of presents which stood tall next to the couch waiting for Emma to open later. "David," she whispered as though she was telling him a secret, "our baby's thirty-one."

David threw his head back dramatically and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't remind me. Does that make us officially old?" he questioned.

"Well I don't think you look a day over thirty six." She told him with another kiss.

David smiled against her lips. "Yeah I think we look pretty good for it." He agreed. "You especially, you look just as stunning as when I first met you, though much less violent."

Mary Margret jokingly punched his arm in mock offence.

"I take that back." He winked.

*OUAT*

"Okay this one I definitely know." Emma said. "This memory is when you decided to go exploring the mines." Emma rose her eyebrows at Henry.

"In my defence I was right, there were things down there." He defended himself sheepishly. He directed his mother towards a picnic bench near the mine, then darted off for a second, when he appeared again he had a rather large package and something wrapped in foil. He placed the present down and passed Emma the thing wrapped in foil.

"PB and J sandwiches?" she laughed.

"I'm hungry." He shrugged.

Emma laughed again. "Okay then let's eat."

The two made quick word of the sandwiches then Henry pushed the parcel towards her.

Emma gasped when she saw what it was. "Henry, I love you."

Henry laughed.

"Where did you find these?" she asked as she looked down at the huge bag of candy which was so unhealthy it was practically glowing.

"Online." He told her as though it was obvious. "I know grandma would kill you if you bought them for yourself."

"Yeah what is her deal with wanting me to eat healthily?"

Henry laughed again, he was pretty sure he was supposed to be the one arguing that point, though it didn't surprise him to hear Emma say it. "But if Grandma asks, I've never seen them before." He said jokily though they both knew he was deadly serious. "They don't sell them in Storybrooke and I know you were addicted to them when we lived in New York."

"Do you miss it? New York?" she asked him.

"I miss some of the things, like the great pizza, and the museums, there was just so much to do… but this is _home_ , you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Emma agreed, she missed some of the things about New York too, but she couldn't believe that she was so adamant that she was going to take Henry back there; he was right this was their home.

*OUAT*

"Didn't there used to be… your castle!" Emma realised as they stood atop the empty hill top. They had after all spent a lot of time here when Emma had first come to Storybrooke. Henry's backpack now felt heavy on her back, full with presents, and it looked that there would be another joining her pack.

Henry led her over to the present which sat on top of the hill. "I kind of miss it, it was special, I mean I don't need it anymore."

"I know, you're a lot different than when I met you when you were ten, but I also understand; even if you don't need it, it's nice to have something concrete from your memories."

Henry nodded, glad that his mother understood his feelings. He handed her the present. "That's where this might help."

Emma opened the box to see a walkie-talkie inside. "Oh my god, I forgot about this, they were essential in helping in operation cobra." She bumped her shoulder against his.

"Yup, I have the other one, in case we ever need them again. Plus it'll help if I ever go over my minutes on my cell." Henry joked. He stared at the spot where his sanctuary once stood before turned back to his mother. "Okay next on the list?"

"The last one." She told him as she carefully added the walkie-talkie to her bag. "The arcade."

*OUAT*

If everything was going right in Henry's plan he and Emma was either be heading to or already inside the arcade, which meant that Mary Margret and David didn't have to worry about being spotted carrying decorations from Mary Margret's station wagon into Granny's, which was closed for regular customers. Neal was content to be strapped to his mother's chest in the baby-carrier, watching as yellow and red balloons bounced in his view, and people appeared paying attention to him.

"David, a little to the left." Mary Margret dictated.

"Yes dear." David resisted saying anything else as he moved the sign slightly, he knew that Mary Margret just wanted everything to be perfect for Emma's party, and he truly understood; he did too. He climbed down from the ladder and placed it back in the back room.

Fairy lights adorned the room, streamers and balloons joined them, and Granny's chalkboard featured a drawing of a swan wearing a crown with lettering wishing Emma a happy birthday.

"That looks amazing Granny, thank you so much." Mary Margret told the older woman when she brought out the huge chocolate cake, they had another ice cream cake back at the loft, but this one was for all the guests also.

"Yeah, you think Emma would mind if a slice was missing?" David licked his lips as he looked at the cake.

"I'm pretty sure she'd kill you." Ruby told him with a smirk.

David nodded as though he was wondering if it was worth it or not, before he helped Ruby cart some food from the kitchen to the counter; they were having a potluck like they had at Neal's christening so people would be turning up with more food, but most of the spread would be provided by Granny.

"I hope Henry will be able to get her here without her realising." David said quietly to Mary Margret.

"Hopefully," she gently stroked Neal's head, "though if anyone can do it, it'll be Henry."

*OUAT*

Henry and Emma spent a lot of time playing the arcade games, both of them were competitive and Emma wasn't going any easier on Henry just because he was younger, and Henry wasn't going any easier just because it was Emma's birthday.

Emma looked at her watch, as they walked out of the arcade, and saw that it was around six; much later than she had expected. "There's no specific memory with this place, is there?" she asked him, they had of course gone there several times but it didn't seem to be a major event like the previous places.

"No, I just like spending time with you," he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, "especially when you lose at air hockey."

"I like spending time with you too," she told him as they pulled away from each other, "even when you cheat." She joked.

Henry suddenly got slightly nervous, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a round present wrapped in tissue paper. He held it out to his mom.

Emma took the present and carefully unwrapped it. It was the most beautiful, handmade, dream catcher, with beads interweaved in the string patterns, and feathers dangling from the multi-coloured strings.

"I know it was kind of your and my dad's thing, and I know things weren't perfect with you two… but I thought you might like it, they're meant to keep away bad dreams, and with all the villains you face I figured it might come in useful. Plus you can always use your magic on it."

Emma wrapped him in another hug, but she was careful not to break the dream catcher. "I love it kid. And no matter how things were with me and your dad, I'm glad we were together because if we weren't I wouldn't have you. I love you Henry."

"I love you too mom." Henry smiled.

"And thank you very much for this day, it's been one of the best days of my life, thank you."

"It's okay."

Emma realised that her son didn't quite want the day to end just yet, and neither did she, so she snapped her fingers and sent the backpack full of her presents and her dream catcher back to her room without them. "How about we go grab some food before we head home?"

"That sounds awesome."

"Granny's it is." Emma wrapped her arm around his shoulder as the pair started to walk.

Henry let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and thanked his lucky stars that she had chosen that place.

*OUAT*

"Okay everyone they're almost here!" David called to everyone in the diner.

All of their friends hushed and hid in position. Henry had just text David to let him know that they were down the street. Mary Margret and David ducked down as they saw Henry and Emma's outlines. The bell chimed as the door was pulled open. Everyone suddenly popped up.

"Happy birthday Emma!"

Emma stood completely astonished at the sight before her, her mouth dropped open as she looked at her parents who were beaming at her, then she looked at Henry and realised he had known about this the whole time. She laughed nervously at all the attention she was being given as she walked towards her parents.

"Happy birthday sweetheart." Mary Margret said as she wrapped her daughter in a hug. Clearly everyone had decided to give them a moment as they turned back to each other to resume their conversation and music began to play again, even Henry moved off to speak to Regina.

"You guys knew?" Emma asked astounded.

"Of course we did, Em." David joined in the hug.

Mary Margret pushed a strand of hair behind Emma's ear when she finally pulled away. "No matter any of the bad things which happened your birth was still one of the best things that has ever happened to us."

"We love you Emma," David pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "happy birthday."

Emma wrapped her arms around her parents once again.

-  
Emma was surprised at how comfortable the party was, she was sure she would feel nervous at being the centre of attention, but her parents had designed it all to be very low key and relaxed. Close friends had come over to her during the evening to give her presents.  
Regina had given her a desktop size apple tree, Emma asked her if she was hoping Emma would get attached to it then she'd appear one day and chop it down, Regina smiled but said nothing.  
Killian had given Emma a dark red leather covered hip flask with a silver metal swan engraved, as he claimed she stole his way too often; she had tried to ignore David's glare at that, though she wasn't sure if it was directed at her or Killian.  
Granny had given her a hand knitted scarf, gloves, socks, and a beanie with a bobble, as in her opinion 'youngins' didn't dress appropriately for the weather.  
Ruby on the other hand had gifted Emma a short dress which she deemed perfectly appropriate for going out, David turned a shade of red when Ruby teased that pirates would especially like it.

Henry was getting ready to leave to go home with Regina he went over to the booth where his mom and grandparents were sat.  
"Henry before you go we'll give your mom the present we all put together." Mary Margret told him.

Henry beamed as he retrieved it from Neal's changing bag, in the excitement of the day he had forgotten about it, after a nod from his grandparents he handed it to his mother.

Emma unwrapped it looking suspiciously at her family. "Woah, guys, thank you." Emma flicked through the pages of the photo album which was filled with pictures of all the family at different moments, she smiled when she realised that space had been left for many more to be added. "Thank you." She repeated.

David wrapped his arm around her shoulders from where he sat by her side. He knew that she didn't just mean the photo album, or even the day she had been having, no she meant thank you for being there for her at all; for being her family.

*OUAT*

A few hours later David and Mary Margret were leading their two children back into the loft, Neal was asleep in his mother's arms, and Emma had her father's arm around her shoulders looking rather sleepy herself. Well, until she spotted the decorations, after which her eyes travelled to the pile pf presents.

"You didn't think that your only present from us was a photo album, did you?" Mary Margret laughed as she led the way to couch.

"I could dream." Emma joked dryly, but she couldn't help but feel touched.

"This one's from your brother." David told her as he handed her a present.

Emma unwrapped it and smiled at the warm pyjamas and the soft toy duck.

"He was completely mesmerised by that when we were shopping for your presents." Mary Margret informed her as she passed her another present.

"Oh my… guys you _really_ shouldn't have." Emma's eyes were glued to the new phone and laptop she had just unwrapped. "Like _seriously_ these are really expensive you shouldn't-"

"- You realise that we're royalty, don't you, Emma? We _can_ afford it. Anyway think of this as making up for the presents you missed out on." Mary Margret told her.

"Anyway it'll stop you complaining about the slow technology we have here." David joked as he bumped shoulders with her, he knew if he didn't lift her spirits she would be crying; and he didn't want his daughter to cry on her birthday.

Emma wrapped her arms around her parents yet again, she wasn't used to having people care about her birthday, especially people who tried to make it the best day possible.

Emma continued to open her presents; warm jumpers, running things (for her weekly runs with her father), a jewellery box which played 'Swan Lake' when opened, a locket complete with a picture of her family, games for Henry's games system which Emma was always playing on, a sword of her own complete with lessons from her father (and a threat to him from her mother should anything happen to Emma during those lessons), a bow and arrows with lessons from her mother (David didn't dare threaten her), lastly David brought over a big box.

Mary Margret helped Emma lifting it out. "We know you're a bit too old for a mobile."

"So we had it changed into a wind chime." David said finishing his wife's sentence.

Emma stared at the beautiful glass unicorns and beads, which now had metal chimes hanging down from them, it was one of the most exquisite things Emma had ever seen.  
Emma carefully placed it back inside the box before she flung herself at her parents, she wrapped her arms around them and hid her face in her father's shoulder.

"Thank you mom. Thank you dad."

"It's no problem." David told her as he kissed the top of her head.

"I hope that you had a good day." Mary Margret told her a she rubbed Emma's back.

"It was my best birthday ever." She told them not moving from their embrace.


End file.
